


The Best Dancing

by Multiple_Universes



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 05:05:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9476900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multiple_Universes/pseuds/Multiple_Universes
Summary: Jo just wants to go dancing with Mike, but for some reason Time Lords always get in the way.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction was written for the Classic Who and Doctor Who EU Secret Santa exchange on Tumblr (and originally posted there).

The Doctor watched smoke rise from a circuit and sighed. Not another wasted experiment! He could already imagine the Brigadier’s face the moment that man found out that the Doctor’s attempts to solve the latest of UNIT’s mysteries had been unsuccessful.

The door opened and Jo rushed in. He didn’t need to look to see it was her he guessed as much from the sound of her footsteps.

“Good evening, Jo. You can tell Lethbridge-Stewart that I’ll have something in the morning.”

“I’m not here from the Brigadier, Doctor. I just wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help.”

He looked up at her worried face. “I’m afraid not, Jo. Until I –”

There was a series of bleeps from a small device on his desk and he picked it up for closer study. “I don’t believe it! All this time the answer has been staring me in the face! Of course!”

“Of course?”

The Doctor grinned. “You can tell Lethbridge-Stewart that the threat isn’t alien. Let the police handle this one.”

She smiled back and nodded. “I will.”

He watched her leave the lab and sighed. “Now I’ll need to find something to do, I suppose.”

 

Jo returned an hour later dressed up to go out. “Just thought I’d tell you I’m off.”

The Doctor pretended to be interested in the bits of electronic equipment in front of him. “Is Mike Yates taking you somewhere tonight?”

“Well, I guess you could say that I’m taking him. There’s this new dance hall not far from us. They put up advertisements for today’s opening night. They promise it will be the best dancing ever.”

“Hmm… The best dancing ever wass on Bermida during the reign of Sultan Torvak who held a dancing competition in all types of dance imaginable on his birthday. I could take you, if you like.”

Jo frowned. “Oh no, Doctor, I know exactly what will happen. Someone will need saving, people will be dying all around us and the planet will be in danger!”

The Doctor looked hurt at this. “Sultan Torvak’s reign was a very peaceful one, I’ll have you know!”

“I’m sure you’ll find that it wasn’t as peaceful as the history books say it was, or you’ll land us right before or right after his reign.” Jo saw the hurt expression on the Doctor’s face and shrugged. “Sorry, Doctor, but you haven’t landed us in a single peaceful situation so far. I just want a regular night out without monsters or life-threatening situations.”

She turned around to leave when something blared loudly in the TARDIS. With a cry of “Oh no!” the Doctor darted inside.

Jo remained in the lab with a frown on her face. “And I’m not falling for that one either! I think you’re perfectly capable of dealing with –”

The Doctor screamed and Jo ran into the TARDIS.

Something on the console was on fire. Jo ran out, grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran back in. Then, remembering the last time that she put out one of the Doctor’s fires, she gave him a sly smile and asked:

“Do you want me to put it out?”

“Yes!” the Doctor gasped.

Jo noticed that, despite the fact that the Doctor appeared unharmed, he seemed to be suffering a great deal of pain. Then the pain seemed to be too much for him and he passed out. She put out the fire and ran to his side.

“Doctor!” she shook him. “Doctor, are you alright?”

After several minutes of frantic shaking he gripped his head and groaned. Then he opened his eyes and muttered, “So sorry, Jo,” and passed out again.

And then Jo heard the sound of the TARDIS dematerializing.

“Oh no!” But it was too late.

 

The door of the lab opened just as the blue police box shape of the TARDIS started to vanish. The Brigadier stepped in, holding a folder in his hand.

“Doctor, about that case you said the police –”

He watched the TARDIS dematerialize with a raised eyebrow.

“Why am I not surprised?”

 

A screen showed the Doctor’s unconscious form and then switched off. The Master put a cigar in his mouth and exhaled a puff of smoke.

“Dear Doctor, that won’t do at all.”

He finished the cigar and calmly flicked several switches on the console in front of him.

“You won’t escape that easily.”

 

As the TARDIS made the noise that Jo knew meant that they’d arrived the Doctor regained consciousness and sat up, rubbing his head.

“Doctor, really!” Jo exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips. “Why did you frighten me like that? And now you’ve kidnapped me too!”

“I assure you, Jo,” the Doctor said, rising to his feet and fixing his clothes, “that I never kidnapped anyone in my life!” He turned on the scanner. “There must be a fault with the TARDIS navigational circuits. Let’s see where we are.”

The scanner showed a long empty corridor.

Jo sighed. “Take me back, Doctor, please. I promised Mike.”

“Aren’t you in the least bit curious about where we’ve landed?”

“Oh, what’s the use?” She opened the door. “Look – another corridor leading to a dangerous situation, I’m sure. It was probably the Time Lords again.” She walked out of the TARDIS silently cursing herself for rushing in. The Doctor was adventurous, but he didn’t seem to understand the appeal of a normal night out at all.

The Doctor beamed as he followed her out. He locked the door of the TARDIS and strode down the hall with his hands in his pockets.

Jo tried not to speculate how long it would be before they were locked up or threatened.

Five minutes later a noise broke the silence of the corridor where the Doctor’s TARDIS stood and another object materialized out of thin air. It looked like a grandfather clock.

The Master stepped out, looked at the Doctor’s TARDIS and walked off down the hallway.

 

A small part of Jo was disappointed when the corridor didn’t end in a life-threatening situation. There were no soldiers waving weapons or monsters ready to eat them. There was only a set of elaborately carved doors that opened onto a big ballroom full of dancing couples.

“Doctor…?” Jo prompted him for an explanation.

“I don’t believe it! We’re on Bermida. How odd!”

“Isn’t that where you wanted to go?” Jo asked with a sly smile.

“Yes, but I hadn’t had time to set the coordinates!”

“Maybe the Time Lords heard you and decided you deserved a break.”

“I doubt it.”

Jo sighed. “Of course. We’ll be attacked any minute now, won’t we?”

They stared at each other. When two minutes went by and nothing happened the Doctor cleared his throat and held out his hand.

“May I have the honour of a dance, my dear Jo?”

“Sure. Why not?” She took his hand and he led her to the middle of the dancefloor.

She wasn’t sure what the dance was. It reminded her of a waltz at times and it was certainly too old-fashioned for her tastes, but she followed the Doctor’s steps anyway.

 _Any minute now he will mention an Austrian Duke_ , she thought, _or an alien from half a galaxy away._

But the Doctor merely smiled. He seemed to be enjoying himself. Aware that this was how everything usually started Jo relaxed and tried to think about something else. What would she tell Mike? That –

“Excuse me.”

They stopped dancing and stared at the man who had interrupted them.

“Master!” the Doctor exclaimed. “What are you doing here? Do you –”

“Josephine Grant,” he bowed to Jo, “if I may request this dance. The Doctor is an absolute amateur. You don’t want to waste your time on him.”

Before Jo could argue the Master was leading her away in a dance.

“Now, look here –”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t stand by and watch the Doctor botch this dance.”

They continued dancing. As far as Jo could tell the Master was good at this dance. He also seemed to be enjoying himself. This was a bad sign without a doubt.

“What do you really want? Is this all part of some plan? What –”

“So many questions, my dear.” He opened his mouth to add more, but the Doctor chose that moment to pull him away.

“Really! I was dancing with Jo. Where are your manners?” He took her hand and led her away.

Jo stifled a giggle. The Master’s expression was one she was going to remember for a long time.

“What does he want?” the Doctor demanded. “Did you manage to find out?”

“He was about to tell me when you interrupted, Doctor.”

The Doctor looked disappointed. “Well, maybe –”

“Maybe you need to learn how to dance!” the Master barged in.

They went on like this several times before Jo started to feel dizzy. She slipped away to stand by a wall. After several minutes of peaceful silence she looked up and grinned.

The Doctor and the Master were dancing in the middle of a large group of dancers. They looked like they were arguing about something but – and this observation made Jo laugh out loud – they were smiling the entire time. Whatever the topic of their argument, they seemed to be having the time of their lives.

“I was so much younger then,” someone said next to her and she stared at the face of a complete stranger.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“Yes, you do, Jo Grant.” The man smiled at her and there was something familiar about that smile.

“Doctor?”

“That’s the trouble with regeneration – you might end up looking completely different.”

“Did the Time Lords send you?”

“Oh no, I came here entirely of my own free will. Just thought I’d admire the mastering of the waltz.”

Jo tried not to laugh. “They look like they’re having fun.”

“Let me assure you that _they_ most definitely _are_.”

“Are you going to stop the Master’s scheme while he’s distracted, then?”

“You mean the scheme that was supposed to be set in motion while my younger self was distracted by dancing with you?”

“You mean… Did _the Master_ send the dance invitations?”

“He did. He just didn’t expect you to invite someone else.”

“But then…” Jo frowned. “Why did he come?”

“Who knows? For the attention? To show off? With a TARDIS it’s perfectly possible to be here and there as well.”

“We need to stop him!”

The man laughed. “I come from the future, remember? I _know_ that his scheme doesn’t work. UNIT and the rest stop everything. He doesn’t know it, though.”

“So what will you do now?”

“Me? I suppose I could invite you to a dance.”

“I’d be delighted,” Jo took his hand.

The man lifted his Stetson to salute her and the lights of the room reflected from his bald head.


End file.
